


Desperate Measures

by Aithilin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Poor Ravus Nox Fleuret, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-27 22:21:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16711117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Ravus just wanted to keep Noctis' idiocy from getting them both killed.





	Desperate Measures

The situation had always been dire, after the fall of Tenebrae. After the Empire stormed their way into his home and slaughtered his childhood while a coward king with all the favour of the gods fled the fires he started. Ravus understood his position better than most. He was not as important as the Oracle, nor as loved as his sister. He was not the face of anything as she was, or even the worthy heir to their fallen kingdom. 

He had watched as the same fate marched on Insomnia in the last twelve years. He was watched, and learned, and studied the way the King of Lucis safeguarded— hoarded, as the Emperor liked to tell his generals— peace and light behind the gilded bars of the Crown City. He watched as the Empire flourished and spread— a dark disease seeping across Eos in consumption— as he fought his way through the ranks with the intent of control. Of stability. 

Of proving his worth to stand beside his sister in the eyes of their people. 

Ravus understood his position in the Imperial military better than most. 

“Shut up.”

He understood the importance of commanding respect through action and example. He stood guard with his men— or whatever some of them might be— and he patrolled with them. He treated them harshly and fairly— the officers snapping to attention as they should. 

It had been easy, on patrol, to follow the rumours of the Lucian Prince as he gallivanted across his kingdom. It had been easy to track him back to the strongholds and and safehouses, the little niches and nooks of safety and shelter offered as he ran errands for his people. The Prince— the King of Light— a glorified delivery boy on the move with his faithful retainers. 

“Stay still.”

Lestallum had been the easiest target. 

He had watched as they settled into the city easily enough, dispatched his MT patrols easily enough. Just as he had watched the younger Noctis’ ferocity in his skirmishes— taking down bases without the force of an army behind him. He had watched as Noctis smiled and laughed his way through danger, flirting with death on an open road and uncovered. Unhindered. 

Ravus had directed his patrols away from the old man at Hammerhead and the children at Cape Caem. He had moved them as he had intended— vulnerable positions that left them open to Noctis’ attacks. To test the young King’s growing powers, he reasoned in his reports. When he still sent reports back. 

Lunafreya would have cried if Noctis was hurt. 

Ravus would have torn Eos to shreds if his sister had cried. 

Lestallum was the weakness in the King’s armour. They relaxed in the city. They separated in the city. And Noctis wandered the streets by himself. 

The Empire was crumbling, and Ravus knew that there was someone working to actually harm Noctis. Someone who had slipped his discipline and would need to be brought to heel. But first he had to keep Noctis from being caught. 

“What—?”

The kiss wasn’t what he intended. 

Dressed like a civilian as he was— watching the patrols he did not command scour the streets for anyone dressed in Lucian black— Ravus had grabbed Noctis before an MT could spot them. He had dragged the King to the shadows, and pressed him against the stained wall of a crumbling building to shield him. 

He had meant to hiss out an order— silence, stealth, stillness— until the threat passed, but the MT had paused. Had heard the voice it was trained to hunt. 

Ravus had to quiet Noctis’ idiocy before it got them killed. 

The kiss was the first thing that came to mind in the overheated, overcrowded city. Lestallum was practically famed for its overly affectionate couples— the excesses taken by locals had been a popular topic among the young officers under his command. He supposed it was a proper Lucian city that way— decadent where it could be, indulgent where it shouldn’t. 

No one, human or MT, would look twice at a couple kissing in the shadows of an alley. He pulled away when he heard the MT move on, and turned his attention to a very amused looking Noctis. 

“Hello to you too, Rav.”

“Don’t call me that. I just saved your life.”

“Did you?”


End file.
